This application relates in general to power supplies and more particularly to a power supply for supplying power to two or more different plasma cutting torches.
Plasma cutting torches require gas and power to operate. The gas normally used in cutting is air or nitrogen. Plasma cutting torches made by different manufacturers will have different characteristics and designs. Thus the power and gas connectors required for torches of different manufacturers may be quite different. Furthermore, the current magnitude required for pilot arcs may be different even for different torches from the same manufacturer. For this reason, a conventional power supply is usually optimized only for one particular type of plasma cutting torch. Thus a conventional power supply optimized only for one type of torch frequently cannot be used for a different type of torch having a different connector design or current requirement for pilot arcs.